DHL Parent's Chief Defends UPS Deal

Hoping to quell the furor building for congressional hearings into DHL's outsourcing deal with United Parcel Service Inc., the chief executive officer of DHL parent Deutsche Post AG of Germany defended the move as critical to saving the U.S. business and its 43,000 jobs.

Frank Appel, CEO of the Bonn-based delivery giant, in his first interview since the agreement became a political target of presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, said the only alternative is "more serious cuts to the whole operation" to stanch losses of $5 million a day. "I can't afford to take losses of $1.3 billion forever," he said.